


memories to daydreams

by kindly



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Billionaire Vlad Masters, Buy-A-Boyfriend, College Student Danny Fenton, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Live-In Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-10-21 05:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindly/pseuds/kindly
Summary: "I am afraid that there is not much to talk about when it comes to my romantic life. This morning I'd had the ridiculous thought of hiring someone to be a sort of 'live-in boyfriend or girlfriend'. As if anyone would ever do that!" Vlad laughed at his own idea as did the women at the table. He smiles when they all calm down and they start chatting again easily.--(372) Unread INBOX"DESIREE."





	1. what's said during lunch, stays during lunch, right?

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, okay so this started as an idea for Danny to be Vlad's live-in boyfriend thing because he got lonely and neglected his own romantic life. idk man, it sounded like a cool idea so i went with it. made a sort of aesthetic board for it too i'll link at the bottom.

Vlad was lonely. There was no denying it, he was too old to even think about denying it to anyone. Pushing closer to 'lifetime bachelor' and further from 'workaholic' than he'd actually wanted lately had the man thinking about just hiring someone off the internet to come and stay with him to keep him company and… well, Vlad was not going to force anyone to do anything they didn't want to, but he had urges. He was only human.

 

No, no. It would be a stupid idea to indulge in, Vlad thought to himself as he stared out the windows of the home office he worked in. Well, really he just sat here at the expensive desk until someone sent him something to sign off on or get a green light to start something. It was a maudlin way that his employees felt they needed in order to keep him 'busy'.

 

He lets out a sigh and spins his chair back to the dark computer screen before he makes his decision and stands.  He pulls on his suit jacket just as his ( _poor bored_ ) assistant walks in.

 

"Uhm, sir?" Desiree looked confused for a moment and Vlad could understand why, it was only noon. "Where are you going?"

 

"Ah, I figured I would grab my own lunch and then take the day for myself. Would you like the day off too? It must be dreadfully boring working for me," he chuckles and his assistant can't help the small smile on her face but nods anyways.

 

"If you say so, sir. I was just going to let you know I was going down the street to that little Italian place for lunch," she thinks for a moment and Vlad fidgets. "Would you like to come along? I'm sure the girls won't mind at all,"

 

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose-"

 

"Nonsense! You'd be a wonderful addition to the lunch party," she assured the older man with a wide grin and grabs his arm in hers but Vlad feels wary at the moment. Like he just got thrown into something he didn't know about yet.

\-----

 

The group of women he was seated with for lunch, Vlad would equate to a pack of hyenas. The laughing and cacophony of noise that they made almost grated on his ears. They were as welcoming as his assistant had said and Vlad was grateful for that.

 

"So, Mr. Masters," one of the younger women, Ember if Vlad remembered correctly, looked him over as she lifted her glass of wine to her blue lips. "You got anyone _special_? Someone at home, warming your bed tonight?"

 

"Ember!" Desiree called out, she looked offended for Vlad and the man was struck with such a feeling of friendship for the woman at the moment. "You cannot just ask that! We're at lunch,"

 

"So? If he wasn't here, we'd already be talking about our partners," Ember laughs as Desiree blushes.

 

"This is my _boss_ , okay? Be respectful," she tries once more before another girl pipes in.

 

"Okay, but seriously. **_Do_** you have anyone in your life, Mr. Masters?" This one is a shy looking girl, light hair braided to one side and wearing what he thought was a peasant blouse, Dora he thinks her name is that.

 

"Oh, no. I, uhm, I've been focused on my work for so long that I am afraid I have neglected that idealistic home life," Vlad admits to them and the girls just stare for a second before bursting into what Vlad only knows as 'cooing'. That is a sound that does grate on his ears and all he can do is give an awkward smile to the girls. "I am afraid that there is not much to talk about when it comes to my romantic life. This morning I'd had the ridiculous thought of hiring someone to be a sort of _'live-in boyfriend or girlfriend'_. As if anyone would ever do that!" Vlad laughed at his own idea as did the women at the table. He smiles when they all calm down and they start chatting again easily. Vlad offers to pay for everyone's lunch that day.

 

He leaves the lunch in a good spirit and feeling ready for the long weekend alone.

\-----

 

Monday comes soon enough and the older man is glad to see his assistant already at her desk and looking over, what Vlad presumes are, e-mails.

 

"Good morning, Desiree," He calls out as he passes by her.

 

"Ah, Mr. Masters! Good, uh, good morning," he gives her a glance as he stops at his office doors. She was smiling nervously at him but Vlad doesn’t know if she wants a man like him to pry into it so he smiles back and walks to his desk. It's all very normal and humdrum to begin with. Letters for the company, some expenses and new notifications about products from other sellers, a letter for Vlad to attend a banquet.

 

Sometimes when they include a plus one invitation it feels mocking.

 

He sets that all aside to turn on the computer, settling in his chair easily. The day wasn't going to be all that bad, he knew because most people avoided doing any real work on Mondays. He was hoping for an almost empty inbox for his emails, honestly. Maybe he could take another half day and-

 

' ** _ping! ping! ping! ping!_** '   

 

_Maybe not_ , he thought to himself. Various emails were flooding into his account and Vlad had half a mind to believe them all to be from some sort of virus or some such, until he read the subject lines on some.

 

"Application for Potential _Live-In Boyfriend_? **_Live-In Girlfriend_**?!" Was this some sort of joke? How would someone have gotten this kind of an ide-

 

**_Ohhhh_**. Vlad looks to the door way pf his office, cracked open the slightest so Desiree would be able to hear him no matter if he spoke up or softly.

 

"DESIREE," she pokes her head just the slightest into the doorway.

 

"Yes, sir?" she smiles but it looks like she's worried. Vlad thinks she should be.

 

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" He moves the screen to show the inbox to her.

 

**(372) Unread INBOX**

 

"Ah, well… See, uhm," Vlad brings a hand to his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "The girls wanted to, you know, bring your idea to life? There's an actual application and everything," she leans over to pull up one of the latest emails and opens the file to show the attached application to Vlad. It's in depth and lists all sorts of information. 

 

"I should fire you," he states with a frown and Desiree freezes for a second and Vlad can see the tears welling up in her eyes. "But you are the best damn assistant I have _ever_ had so… I thank you for caring but please, no more of these ideas, okay?" With that he shoo-s her back to her desk and she spouts 'thank you' a few times at him weepily. She had left the email open and Vlad takes a look at the one she pulled up with a sigh.

 

Daniel J. Fenton, age 20, black hair and blue eyes, college student working as a barista… it was not that this Daniel character was impressive but Vlad was curious to see just how in depth this application went and how much information these people were willing to give up for this sham. At least there was a simple 'about me' paragraph that Vlad could read easily.

 

My name is Danny, I work full-time and go to school full-time for my Astrobiology degree. I'm not looking for a handout, but if you really **are** looking for someone to keep you company, I'd ask for only tuition money. I would love to stop working at the Coffee Palace (yeah, the name sucks I know) and focus on my studies. This is probably a sham though so I don't expect much from this. (Sorry, but it's too good to be true that a famous billionaire like Vlad Masters doesn’t have a bunch of woman/men hanging off his every word.)

 

It rambles on for a bit, there was even another attached document to the email entitled 'More About Me' that Vlad had to laugh at. The audacity that this, this child would think that Vlad would open another file simply to know about him was hilarious to the man.  

 

He clicked open the file anyways.


	2. meeting face to face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here is a second chapter to this idea.   
> any ideas where its headed? nope.   
> enjoy it tho? c:

The rest of the week went by in a series of events. Starting with the News catching wind of this farce of an idea, which led to an influx of new emails that Vlad was now having Desiree read through as well as himself. They were trying to dissuade people from sending more or trying to get people to stop messaging him pictures that _he really didn't need to see_.

 

"Oh, _shit_. Mr. Masters, you have to be at the college for that business class tomorrow," Desiree reminded Vlad with a frown and a groan of annoyance. "We haven’t even had time to prepare what you'll say…" This was another event. The local college sometimes asked him to speak to the students about being a self-made billionaire. He was happy to do so, getting out of the office was becoming more and more of a pleasure for him than it used to be.

 

"Oh, you are right… Not to fret, I can come up with something tonight while you go through these emails and tell them that while I am flattered by the responses, I must decline," the man pauses for a moment and regards one email with a picture and a curious look as he tilts his head. "Actually, please don't even respond to the ones with pictures… Delete those as they come…"

 

"You got it, boss," Desiree salutes to Vlad and he gives her a wry smile before looking at the ever growing list of emails. Maybe he should just change his email and start over… No, he had too many connections that used it. Vlad exited the programs and started shutting down the computer.

 

"I will retire, then, to my home and prepare for the speech tomorrow," He sighs and stands, grabbing the suit jacket that was across the back of his chair as he did so. He folds it over his arm gently and sets his chair back in its spot. He glanced at his assistant and gave a small smile, he knew that it wasn't her fault this happened but he was still going to make sure it didn't happen again.  Vlad could be petty that way. "Good night, Desiree,"

 

"Good night, sir," she called back with a small smile and Vlad left her to sort through emails of desperate women and raving men.

 

He knew it was a bad idea anyways, asking some stranger to live with him so he wouldn't be lonely.

\-----

 

Mornings for Vlad were a rather subtle thing. He'd make himself something small, most likely rye toast with strawberry jam, a cup of his favorite expensive coffee (free trade beans or whatever it was called now) and read emails off his laptop.

 

It was quiet. Lonely.

 

Vlad sets his place at the breakfast bar with his meal and opens the laptop to the speech he was working on giving today at the college. He'd never liked going into something unprepared, honestly, but he did usually end up straying from his original plans more often than not.

 

Vlad had a feeling that that would be the case today.

\---

 

The college wasn't far from his mansion, but nothing really felt that far when you took a helicopter. He knew it was dramatic, that was the point.

 

Vlad's entire reason for speaking at the colleges that asked was to try to inspire the students to become entrepreneurs like him, maybe some of them become rich like him, maybe some don't. Vlad wasn't one to idle on people, or things, for very long. He's escorted to a large auditorium, being made aware that lots of students had expressed an interest in wanting to be there to see him speak.

 

"It was rather weird, Mr. Masters. They just expressed this want in the last weekend? I think, yes. So we decided to open it to the campus and give you a larger hall than the usual lecture hall we had planned," Vlad could feel the dread make a weight in his gut. It couldn't be a coincidence that just over the weekend he'd had a popularity shift in the student body and it not be related to the "Issue" (as he was now calling it).

 

"I am aware of the sudden… popularity, although I am unsure as to why it has happened," He chose to… well, he wouldn't say he was lying. He didn't quite understand the attraction he held for college age persons, he was older and settled into his life. Whereas a college student might find more enjoyment at a party or out and about, not across the world just to watch Vlad's favorite Ballet Company in Bolshoi, Russia.

 

Either way, the man escorting him to the auditorium takes his leave with a small smile and Vlad is left to enter the crowded area with only his personal security detail in tow. It's not that he was afraid of being mobbed by college students but, well, it never hurt to be prepared.

 

He takes a deep breath and walks through the door.

\---

 

Lectures were simple, public speaking was simple. Being up close and personal with a group of students that were only interested in the "Issue" was daunting, to say the least. He was packing up some papers that he'd brought along for his outline of his speech when he'd gotten distracted by a question one of the girls had asked and he picked up some papers wrong, giving himself a papercut.

 

" _дерьмо́_!" He cursed under his breath and then there was a flurry of questions asking what he said and if he was okay. "Yes, yes, I am fine. Just need to find a-"

 

"Bandaid?" one of the students held up a small wrapped bandaid for Vlad and he smiled at the younger male.

 

"Thank you.." he prompted the male as he ripped open the bandaid to try and plaster it on the small but himself, rather unsuccessfully.

 

"Danny. Here, let me.." the younger male, Danny, reached out for Vlad's hand and quickly wrapped the bandaid around Vlad's finger before looking up at the older man with a smile and letting go of his hand.

 

"Thank you, Daniel," Vlad watched as the boy blushed lightly under the gratitude and heard a student mutter something under their breath that made Vlad's chest clench tight.

 

"Ugh, Fenton goes for the older guy _again_ ,"

 

Danny Fenton? Where had he heard that name again?

 

Oh. _Oh_.

 

"Excuse me, will you all? I've got another bullet point on the agenda, I'm afraid," He smiles at the students and quickly packs his things to leave. Catching the raven haired boys ocean eyes as he heads out the door. "Nice meeting you all,"

 

He left with that forlorn look in blue eyes and a light blush over pale cheeks.

 

_Danny Fenton.._ ** _Fenton_**.

 

Vlad almost stopped dead in his tracks as he recalled his own college life and his two friends from those days.

 

" ** _дерьмо́…_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the russian is just 'shit'

**Author's Note:**

> http://kindly-creatot.tumblr.com/post/159775210447/it-takes-my-breath-away-soft-hearts-electric-souls
> 
> also, stop and say hi to me on tumblr. i'll only bite if you want me to c;  
> http://kindly-creatot.tumblr.com/


End file.
